A small update. The shifter works as designed. I was not able to drive this weekend from having some plans and fighting the weather but I was able to get everything connected and it'll go through the gears just fine.
Some notes:
1. It is much stiffer in the side to side motion. This might be partially because I don't have a slippery washer between the rod end and the shifter arm.
2. The pattern is much-much smaller. I had the OTTP short shifter and this is a smaller pattern than that. I was trying to get it into 5th and reverse and over shifting to the passenger side.
3. There is not any extra room on the front to back pattern and this could affect installation and adjustment. There is not room in the pattern to tilt the rod back and still be able to make it into 2nd and 4th. They engage just before the rod makes contact with the mount. The wiggle in the see-saw lever is enough to have it make contact. I'm thinking about ways to take out some of that wiggle. The bottom ball-joint connector has some more adjustment to shorten the throw but it's only about 1/8" away from the base plate right now so we may need to shim up the shifter or adjust the cutout in the plate a little.
I'm hoping to drive it today or tomorrow to get some more review time in.
Installation parts that I used:
1. Bottom of shift rod -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/6058K861 - Stainless Steel Ball Joint - M8x1.25 with M8 lock nut
2. Ball Joint to all-thread -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/92499A891 - Stainless Steel Male-Female Hex Adapter M8x1.25 to 3/8-16
3. Bottom of left to right shift arm -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/59915K42 - Stainless Steel Rod End - 1/4-28 with 1/4-20 attachment bolt and nyloc nut
4. Rod End to all-thread -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/92499A139 - Stainless Steel Male-Female Hex Adapter 1/4-28 to 3/8-16
5. All-thread -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/94435A523 - Aluminum 3/8-16 all thread 2' long - for weight -
you can use stainless if it's a concern.
6. All-thread to DF Ball joint -
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/91646A142 - Aluminum Male-Female Hex Adapter M6x1 to 3/8-16 (2 needed)
7. Lock nuts - Grade 8 - 3/8-16 hex nuts without washers - Be careful tightening them since they're on aluminum all-thread (4 needed)
8. Mounting bolts from base plate to shifter - Grade 8 - 5/16-18 x 1 1/2" long hex head bolts with flat washer and lock washer on each one (4 needed)
9. Mounting bolts from base plate to car - DF supplied mounting bolts. Will need to change to 1/2" longer bolts on final installation. (4 needed)
10. Shifter Knob -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077N8MN8M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - Cheap Amazon Weighted ball with adapters - needs to be M10x1.5 (Different than any aftermarket for the Cobalt)
Attached are pictures of this installation. It'll be the same when the Aluminum Base is finished. It looks VERY nice and I really like it. I can tell you with 100% certainty that any problems I run into will be worked out and I will NOT be going back to the other shifter. Really, I don't think there will be any problems because I've been shifting it in the garage without any problems.